Features

A few days ago, someone on the Internet posted a list of Furthur’s spring tour “breakouts”—songs the band had never played onstage before. And it’s quite an impressive group of tunes, a mixture of cover songs by The Beatles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others; songs the Grateful Dead played in different eras that Furthur hadn’t touched; and one-offs with guest singers … 32 in all (by April 6). OK, more than half of those—16—are from The Beatles’ Abbey Road, which Furthur unveiled, in order, over the first nine shows of the tour (culminating with the whole Side Two suite on Phil’s birthday), but the band still had to learn all of them—yes, even the brief “Her Majesty”—and cast singers for each. What started out as a cute gimmick turned out to be pretty cool, and it was also special when some of that album’s songs later migrated to unexpected spots in the middle of Furthur’s sets—there was Phil bellowing “Octopus’ Garden” out of “Maggie’s Farm” in Hampton, and the choral showcase “Because” drifting into “New Potato Caboose” in Charleston. Nice! Who was more surprised—the Radio City Music Hall audience when Diana Krall sang “Fever” during an encore segment, or the Hampton crowd that witnessed John Kadlecik leading the group through Led Zep’s late-period nugget “Fool in the Rain”? (I know I was more surprised by the latter—surprisingly good version, too.)

Breakouts are one way a band stays fresh. They always inject a bit of life into a set, whether a newly introduced tune is performed beautifully or falls on its face—any of you who followed the Grateful Dead through the years know that it can definitely go either way. And you also know that a song you don’t like the first time you hear it can easily become a favorite as it matures and your own prejudices fall. Conversely, songs that feel alive the first few times they’re played can start to “turn” like overripe fruit and lose that initial pizzazz.

For the first 10 years I saw the Dead—1970 to 1980—it seems like every show I would hear a song or two (or five!) I had never heard before. In the early ’70s, particularly, there was an amazing tidal wave of new songs every tour. But it never occurred to me to actually keep track of what the band played from season to season, so, for instance, I had no idea that I saw the breakout of “Bird Song” and “Deal” at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester in February ’71, and both “Sugaree” and “Mr. Charlie” at the Yale Bowl that summer. I remember other songs that were new to me (personal breakouts!) at those shows that slayed me more.

Beatles to Furthur: “Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight a long time.”

It was that way for me for many years: I wasn’t aware until a couple of weeks ago that I saw the U.S. breakout of “He’s Gone” at Dillon Stadium in Hartford in July 1972. What I remember most from that show was Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers’ drummers joining the Dead for the last part of the second set. Toward the mid- to late ’70s, as my circle of Dead Head friends increased (and included super-knowledgeable folks like David Gans) I started to become more aware of what the band was doing week to week and month to month, and I also started collecting tapes more seriously than I had been. I remember David got a tape of that first “Terrapin Station” from the Swing Auditorium (2/26/77), but I made the conscious decision to not hear it before I saw the band at Winterland 3/18/77—I wanted to be surprised. And I was! My mind was completely blown by “Terrapin” (my first thought when I heard the jam at the end was that it sounded like Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” believe it or not!), and I was also fully aware that this song the Dead ended the first set with, “Fire on the Mountain,” was a breakout! (That show remains in my Top Five concert experiences.)

I recall the great excitement that surrounded the introduction of “Touch of Grey” and “Throwing Stones” on the fall ’82 East Coast tour and the thrill of hearing them for the first time, back to back, at Frost Amphitheatre October 9. The following autumn I fretted about the band’s apparent refusal to give us West Coasters the return breakout of “St. Stephen” we so clearly deserved after they played it in Hartford and at MSG. (Then, when they actually did play it Halloween night ’83 at the Marin Civic it was stiff; a letdown for me). A lot of us in the Bay Area developed a bit of an inferiority complex because it seemed as though the breakouts and revivals always happened away from “home,” from “Dear Mr. Fantasy” to “Revolution” to “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road” to “Help on the Way.” (On the plus side, I did get to witness the first “Hell in a Bucket,” the return of “Walking the Dog,” the first “Keep on Growing” and what remains one of my favorite Grateful Dead memories ever—the first “Gimme Some Lovin’” at BCT, 11/2/84. Hey Jerry, how come you never played “Good Lovin’” > “La Bamba” > “Good Lovin’” for us in California? (We can forgive, but never forget!) I’m mostly kidding, but I certainly recall the anticipation so many of us felt wondering when and if the new gems would pop up in Bay Area shows.

To the Dead’s eternal credit, they kept introducing new originals and covers and reviving old favorites until the end, though with decreasing frequency. Remember how excited we were when “Attics of My Life” reappeared after so many years collecting dust? “New Speedway Boogie”? I remember being intensely affected by my first versions of “Standing on the Moon” and “Days Between”—surprise breakouts I hadn’t even heard whispers of. Even at the last Dead show I ever attended, at Shoreline in June ’95, many of us were “waiting” for “Unbroken Chain” to finally appear in California. (It did, and again I was disappointed. Beware heightened expectations!)

The whole post-Garcia era has been so wild, freewheeling and unpredictable that breakouts and revivals don’t have quite the mystique they did during the Dead’s time. That’s not to say it wasn’t totally awesome to hear “The Eleven”—ignored by the Dead for decades—retooled by The Other Ones, or Phil & Friends with Trey playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” or Furthur doing “Blues for Allah” at Calaveras last spring. Indeed, it’s the sheer variety of the ever-expanding repertoires and the sense that any song could pop up at any time that have helped make this such an exciting time to be going to Dead Family shows. New songs, new covers, old chestnuts cooking again—bring ’em on! I want to hear them all. We’ll have plenty of time to complain about (some of) them later!

What have been some of your pleasant surprises at shows, either in the Grateful Dead era or post-GD? Are you diggin’ Furthur’s recent breakouts?

A few days ago, someone on the Internet posted a list of Furthur’s spring tour “breakouts”—songs the band had never played onstage before. And it’s quite an impressive group of tunes, a mixture of cover songs by The Beatles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others; songs the Grateful Dead played in different eras that Furthur hadn’t touched; and one-offs with guest singers … 32 in all (by April 6). OK, more than half of those—16—are from The Beatles’ Abbey Road, which Furthur unveiled, in order, over the first nine shows of the tour (culminating with the whole Side Two suite on Phil’s birthday), but the band still had to learn all of them—yes, even the brief “Her Majesty”—and cast singers for each. What started out as a cute gimmick turned out to be pretty cool, and it was also special when some of that album’s songs later migrated to unexpected spots in the middle of Furthur’s sets—there was Phil bellowing “Octopus’ Garden” out of “Maggie’s Farm” in Hampton, and the choral showcase “Because” drifting into “New Potato Caboose” in Charleston. Nice! Who was more surprised—the Radio City Music Hall audience when Diana Krall sang “Fever” during an encore segment, or the Hampton crowd that witnessed John Kadlecik leading the group through Led Zep’s late-period nugget “Fool in the Rain”? (I know I was more surprised by the latter—surprisingly good version, too.)

Breakouts are one way a band stays fresh. They always inject a bit of life into a set, whether a newly introduced tune is performed beautifully or falls on its face—any of you who followed the Grateful Dead through the years know that it can definitely go either way. And you also know that a song you don’t like the first time you hear it can easily become a favorite as it matures and your own prejudices fall. Conversely, songs that feel alive the first few times they’re played can start to “turn” like overripe fruit and lose that initial pizzazz.

For the first 10 years I saw the Dead—1970 to 1980—it seems like every show I would hear a song or two (or five!) I had never heard before. In the early ’70s, particularly, there was an amazing tidal wave of new songs every tour. But it never occurred to me to actually keep track of what the band played from season to season, so, for instance, I had no idea that I saw the breakout of “Bird Song” and “Deal” at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester in February ’71, and both “Sugaree” and “Mr. Charlie” at the Yale Bowl that summer. I remember other songs that were new to me (personal breakouts!) at those shows that slayed me more.

Beatles to Furthur: “Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight a long time.”

It was that way for me for many years: I wasn’t aware until a couple of weeks ago that I saw the U.S. breakout of “He’s Gone” at Dillon Stadium in Hartford in July 1972. What I remember most from that show was Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers’ drummers joining the Dead for the last part of the second set. Toward the mid- to late ’70s, as my circle of Dead Head friends increased (and included super-knowledgeable folks like David Gans) I started to become more aware of what the band was doing week to week and month to month, and I also started collecting tapes more seriously than I had been. I remember David got a tape of that first “Terrapin Station” from the Swing Auditorium (2/26/77), but I made the conscious decision to not hear it before I saw the band at Winterland 3/18/77—I wanted to be surprised. And I was! My mind was completely blown by “Terrapin” (my first thought when I heard the jam at the end was that it sounded like Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” believe it or not!), and I was also fully aware that this song the Dead ended the first set with, “Fire on the Mountain,” was a breakout! (That show remains in my Top Five concert experiences.)

I recall the great excitement that surrounded the introduction of “Touch of Grey” and “Throwing Stones” on the fall ’82 East Coast tour and the thrill of hearing them for the first time, back to back, at Frost Amphitheatre October 9. The following autumn I fretted about the band’s apparent refusal to give us West Coasters the return breakout of “St. Stephen” we so clearly deserved after they played it in Hartford and at MSG. (Then, when they actually did play it Halloween night ’83 at the Marin Civic it was stiff; a letdown for me). A lot of us in the Bay Area developed a bit of an inferiority complex because it seemed as though the breakouts and revivals always happened away from “home,” from “Dear Mr. Fantasy” to “Revolution” to “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road” to “Help on the Way.” (On the plus side, I did get to witness the first “Hell in a Bucket,” the return of “Walking the Dog,” the first “Keep on Growing” and what remains one of my favorite Grateful Dead memories ever—the first “Gimme Some Lovin’” at BCT, 11/2/84. Hey Jerry, how come you never played “Good Lovin’” > “La Bamba” > “Good Lovin’” for us in California? (We can forgive, but never forget!) I’m mostly kidding, but I certainly recall the anticipation so many of us felt wondering when and if the new gems would pop up in Bay Area shows.

To the Dead’s eternal credit, they kept introducing new originals and covers and reviving old favorites until the end, though with decreasing frequency. Remember how excited we were when “Attics of My Life” reappeared after so many years collecting dust? “New Speedway Boogie”? I remember being intensely affected by my first versions of “Standing on the Moon” and “Days Between”—surprise breakouts I hadn’t even heard whispers of. Even at the last Dead show I ever attended, at Shoreline in June ’95, many of us were “waiting” for “Unbroken Chain” to finally appear in California. (It did, and again I was disappointed. Beware heightened expectations!)

The whole post-Garcia era has been so wild, freewheeling and unpredictable that breakouts and revivals don’t have quite the mystique they did during the Dead’s time. That’s not to say it wasn’t totally awesome to hear “The Eleven”—ignored by the Dead for decades—retooled by The Other Ones, or Phil & Friends with Trey playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” or Furthur doing “Blues for Allah” at Calaveras last spring. Indeed, it’s the sheer variety of the ever-expanding repertoires and the sense that any song could pop up at any time that have helped make this such an exciting time to be going to Dead Family shows. New songs, new covers, old chestnuts cooking again—bring ’em on! I want to hear them all. We’ll have plenty of time to complain about (some of) them later!

What have been some of your pleasant surprises at shows, either in the Grateful Dead era or post-GD? Are you diggin’ Furthur’s recent breakouts?

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A few days ago, someone on the Internet posted a list of Furthur’s spring tour “breakouts”—songs the band had never played onstage before. And it’s quite an impressive group of tunes, a mixture of cover songs by The Beatles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others; songs the Grateful Dead played in different eras that Furthur hadn’t touched; and one-offs with guest singers … 32 in all (by April 6). OK, more than half of those—16—are from The Beatles’ Abbey Road, which Furthur unveiled, in order, over the first nine shows of the tour (culminating with the whole Side Two suite on Phil’s birthday), but the band still had to learn all of them—yes, even the brief “Her Majesty”—and cast singers for each. What started out as a cute gimmick turned out to be pretty cool, and it was also special when some of that album’s songs later migrated to unexpected spots in the middle of Furthur’s sets—there was Phil bellowing “Octopus’ Garden” out of “Maggie’s Farm” in Hampton, and the choral showcase “Because” drifting into “New Potato Caboose” in Charleston. Nice! Who was more surprised—the Radio City Music Hall audience when Diana Krall sang “Fever” during an encore segment, or the Hampton crowd that witnessed John Kadlecik leading the group through Led Zep’s late-period nugget “Fool in the Rain”? (I know I was more surprised by the latter—surprisingly good version, too.)

Breakouts are one way a band stays fresh. They always inject a bit of life into a set, whether a newly introduced tune is performed beautifully or falls on its face—any of you who followed the Grateful Dead through the years know that it can definitely go either way. And you also know that a song you don’t like the first time you hear it can easily become a favorite as it matures and your own prejudices fall. Conversely, songs that feel alive the first few times they’re played can start to “turn” like overripe fruit and lose that initial pizzazz.

For the first 10 years I saw the Dead—1970 to 1980—it seems like every show I would hear a song or two (or five!) I had never heard before. In the early ’70s, particularly, there was an amazing tidal wave of new songs every tour. But it never occurred to me to actually keep track of what the band played from season to season, so, for instance, I had no idea that I saw the breakout of “Bird Song” and “Deal” at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester in February ’71, and both “Sugaree” and “Mr. Charlie” at the Yale Bowl that summer. I remember other songs that were new to me (personal breakouts!) at those shows that slayed me more.

Beatles to Furthur: “Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight a long time.”

It was that way for me for many years: I wasn’t aware until a couple of weeks ago that I saw the U.S. breakout of “He’s Gone” at Dillon Stadium in Hartford in July 1972. What I remember most from that show was Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers’ drummers joining the Dead for the last part of the second set. Toward the mid- to late ’70s, as my circle of Dead Head friends increased (and included super-knowledgeable folks like David Gans) I started to become more aware of what the band was doing week to week and month to month, and I also started collecting tapes more seriously than I had been. I remember David got a tape of that first “Terrapin Station” from the Swing Auditorium (2/26/77), but I made the conscious decision to not hear it before I saw the band at Winterland 3/18/77—I wanted to be surprised. And I was! My mind was completely blown by “Terrapin” (my first thought when I heard the jam at the end was that it sounded like Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” believe it or not!), and I was also fully aware that this song the Dead ended the first set with, “Fire on the Mountain,” was a breakout! (That show remains in my Top Five concert experiences.)

I recall the great excitement that surrounded the introduction of “Touch of Grey” and “Throwing Stones” on the fall ’82 East Coast tour and the thrill of hearing them for the first time, back to back, at Frost Amphitheatre October 9. The following autumn I fretted about the band’s apparent refusal to give us West Coasters the return breakout of “St. Stephen” we so clearly deserved after they played it in Hartford and at MSG. (Then, when they actually did play it Halloween night ’83 at the Marin Civic it was stiff; a letdown for me). A lot of us in the Bay Area developed a bit of an inferiority complex because it seemed as though the breakouts and revivals always happened away from “home,” from “Dear Mr. Fantasy” to “Revolution” to “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road” to “Help on the Way.” (On the plus side, I did get to witness the first “Hell in a Bucket,” the return of “Walking the Dog,” the first “Keep on Growing” and what remains one of my favorite Grateful Dead memories ever—the first “Gimme Some Lovin’” at BCT, 11/2/84. Hey Jerry, how come you never played “Good Lovin’” > “La Bamba” > “Good Lovin’” for us in California? (We can forgive, but never forget!) I’m mostly kidding, but I certainly recall the anticipation so many of us felt wondering when and if the new gems would pop up in Bay Area shows.

To the Dead’s eternal credit, they kept introducing new originals and covers and reviving old favorites until the end, though with decreasing frequency. Remember how excited we were when “Attics of My Life” reappeared after so many years collecting dust? “New Speedway Boogie”? I remember being intensely affected by my first versions of “Standing on the Moon” and “Days Between”—surprise breakouts I hadn’t even heard whispers of. Even at the last Dead show I ever attended, at Shoreline in June ’95, many of us were “waiting” for “Unbroken Chain” to finally appear in California. (It did, and again I was disappointed. Beware heightened expectations!)

The whole post-Garcia era has been so wild, freewheeling and unpredictable that breakouts and revivals don’t have quite the mystique they did during the Dead’s time. That’s not to say it wasn’t totally awesome to hear “The Eleven”—ignored by the Dead for decades—retooled by The Other Ones, or Phil & Friends with Trey playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” or Furthur doing “Blues for Allah” at Calaveras last spring. Indeed, it’s the sheer variety of the ever-expanding repertoires and the sense that any song could pop up at any time that have helped make this such an exciting time to be going to Dead Family shows. New songs, new covers, old chestnuts cooking again—bring ’em on! I want to hear them all. We’ll have plenty of time to complain about (some of) them later!

What have been some of your pleasant surprises at shows, either in the Grateful Dead era or post-GD? Are you diggin’ Furthur’s recent breakouts?

A few days ago, someone on the Internet posted a list of Furthur’s spring tour “breakouts”—songs the band had never played onstage before. And it’s quite an impressive group of tunes, a mixture of cover songs by The Beatles, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and others; songs the Grateful Dead played in different eras that Furthur hadn’t touched; and one-offs with guest singers … 31 in all (by April 3).

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on Friday night. Everyone in our group and most of those around us seemed pleasantly shocked. Sure weren't expecting that! John did a great job. Would have loved to have been there for "Blue Sky" as I love the Allmans! The new stuff is keeping it fresh!

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great 2nd set with a killer Mighty Quinn jerry just killed it and dont forget the 1st watchtower at the GREEK HOLY SHIT JERRY was doin deep knee bends just rippen it so so much more i'll stoppeace wolff
the best times of my life

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"Fool in the Rain" is my favorite all-time song so knowing that the busted that out gave me goosebumps for the fact that I might get to see them play it.
Also, although it technically wasnt part of the Spring tour, the breakout of "C.C. Rider" in Broomfield was sweet. Also really pumped that my favorite GD song "Row Jimmy" is back in the rotation. Keep em' coming!

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good lovin and "there's ole jer like a little teddy bear "i think it went like that and does anybody remember jer response something like shut the f up my good friend mr bob weirthanks bro for bring it up, she belongs to me in 85 , 91 lot to laugh train to cry shoreline think it was mothers day iout of cc rider killer cosmic charlie tease at oakland wow so so much fun .....THANKS GUYS THANKS JER MIS YA

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down .. !!!
you missed the biggest one of all. fox theatre atlanta GA 04/03, done ultimate justice by johnnie.
i "felt" a furthur-first to lay me down coming this spring. ijust felt it in the air. on the furthur.net forum i even went so far as to call it in advance, i predicted the night of 04/01, and it was unleashed on 04/03, close enough for me to feel like i got it ....
i like the topic of break-outs, or as we used to call them "bust-outs." i guess my ultimate bust-out for which i was in personal attendance was the 10-11-1983 st stephen at MSG, NY NY, i shall never, never forget that moment ... coming out of a wild space ... duh ... duh .. the opening two notes of stephen tore the lid off of that place. i also saw the one two nights later in hartford, which they actually nailed better than the MSG version. i agree that the halloween version was a bit lacking.
i lOVe the abbey road stuff, and am only waiting for what might be next .. furthur will really have to dig deep to surprise us .... which i have no doubt they will do.
beenWAYtoolongatsea

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That "Hey Jude" at Red Rocks in '85 is one of my favorite moments, too...

Wolff... that fantastic "Mighty Quinn" breakout was 12/30/85 (not '86)--a version they never topped IMO.

And the famous Greek "Good Lovin'" with Weir bringing the band into his rap was '86. As I described that moment at the time in The Golden Road: "With the rest of the band egging him on with smiles and even out-and-out laughter, Weir really stepped out on limb during this 'Good Lovin' when he hit the 'rap' section. Often in the past he's asked the crowd 'Who needs good lovin?' (the correct response is 'I do! I do!'), but this time he turned the tables and went around the whole band, asking, 'How 'bout our drummers?' then 'Our keyboard player?'... 'Our bass player?' With the excitement building every second, heightened by exquisite lighting by Candace and Dan English that made the crowd and band seem like one swirling mass, Weir finally turned to his left and said, 'And then there's old Garcia!' At that, Garcia, already beaming a grin that would do the Cheshire Cat proud, lifted his hands over his head and shook them triumphantly like Rocky victorious! Holy shit! The crowd went predictably berserk, and somehow in all the pandemonium the band managed to finish the song. Actually 'finish' is too mild a word. The final crescendo was absolutely atomic, and Garcia hit the last crunching chord so hard he literally almost fell over! Having seen this outpouring of love and high energy, I can now die a happy man."

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Fool in the Rain was a great breakout, too. We certainly loved that great version after they teased us with the eventual Good Lovin' right before they busted it out. I love surprise songs and rarities to keep us on our toes. My dansin' feet approve!

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Without a doubt one of my finest GD memories was the Watchtower. My hair was standing up. Heard folks on the tennis court were dropping to their knees. The Day Tripper in Maine was another moment; the whole floor surging toward the stage then erupting with the band.
Speaking about your East/West comment, I recall a friend saying the band couldn't play Franklin's on the West Coast (just listen to this version from MSG, he'd say). True enough there are many great things about east coast dead, but in the end it was the west that got the bulk of the shows, the smaller halls (Kaiser) and a chance to see Jer playing at the Stone/Warfield every couple of weeks.
I never paid much never-mind to not seeing breakouts.
One good ride from start to end
I'd like to take that ride again

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85 86 i think were some of my favs must have done40 or 41 shows those 2 years each year so so much fun the 2nd half of the 12/30/85 other one wharf rat sugar mag wow was smokin jerry was just shredded it .... dollar at the door and watch the floor move after a few hundred shows it all melts into one or something like that ...thank you all so much for helping me remember all the freakin great wonderful time's ... one more i was watching Walton with darius miles walkin in the height and came to positively height st. and jim the owner use to buy some of my pictures and sell them in the store , one morning watching espn and all of a sudden there's walton pointing to my pic's on the wall in the store as i was watching espn what a trip
could we all just go on forever telling great story
peace and mahalo to all my brothers and sisters
wolff

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3-27-86 portland maine revolutuionary hamstrung blues. One and only. this would be a good one for phil and the boys to resurect. That was a great show the Wang Dang Doodle was new to me also and it really got the place rockin.

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Was the breakout of 2010. When they played that on NYE I'll never forget the look on everyone's face. Is that ... nooo way ... yeah?!?! Oh hell yeah!! =)
For the GD it was So Many Roads in Oakland 92. Unfortunately it was also the debut of Wave to the Wind =) lol Sorry Phil =) =)
"It's got no signs or dividing line and very few rules to guide"

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Of all the shows that I saw which were between '84 - '95, I managed to catch a couple of significant breakouts. One of them being when Here Comes Sunshine was reintroduced at Compton Terrace in '92. That was pretty exciting, even if it wasn't the vehicle for jamming that it once was. It was a welcome suprise. A few months later, I caught the breakout debut of possibly the worst cover song I've ever heard them do. It happened on a weekend in mid-March of '93, after driving through what was called the "Blizzard of the Century". The first night was ultimately cancelled due to the highways being shut down. Anticipation for a great show was high for the second "non-cancelled" night. After sitting through what was a rather lacksidaisical show, with a couple of really nice highlights in the middle of the second set, we got the ultimate antithesis, "I Fought The Law". Why? It felt like the band was flipping us all off that night.

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First and only time they covered Miles Davis' "So What"! Really more of a small jam at the start of the second set than a full blown cover. Still a huge thrill for a long time Miles fan and trumpet player like me!

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It was that way for me for many years: I wasn’t aware until a couple of weeks ago that I saw the U.S. breakout of “He’s Gone” at Dillon Stadium in Hartford in July 1972. What I remember most from that show was Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers’ drummers joining the Dead for the last part of the second set.
Blair,
Dicky Betts, Jaimoe and Butch Trucks joined. Phil departed. They rolled up Gregg's Hammond organ but he never appeared. I took a picture and I'll send it to you.

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This was it for me, Alpine Valley 7/17/89, a mind bogglingly good Going Down the Road>Not Fade(not played in many years prior) and the rare nursery rhyme lullaby "We Bid You Good Night". After the show while dining at a local Embers, I suggested to Joanie (my girlfriend at the time) that GD might not have a deal for next year and the history of the rare song. Sadly, it may have been true and 1989 was the final year of the Alpine run, one of the top 5 Venues for Grateful Dead in the 1980's I would argue. Hang Loose
- Pete

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I was there for the first Unbroken Chain in Philly. The next one in Charlotte was much better than that but I wasn't there for that one. Also, some of the excitement was lost because Vince revealed it during a newspaper interview before it actually happened. The Spectrum was buzzing that whole night in anticipation and when it finally came, the crowd was relatively silent so we could all here Phil sing the song we waited so long to hear him sing. I never heard a louder crowd to this day after the song was finished. They closed the first set with it. Everyone was smiling and the lines at the phones(cell phones were scarce then and the internet was in its infancy) were WAYYYYYY longer than the lines for the bathroom. When the band came back they were greated by a chant of "Thank You Phil" Phil took a well deserved bow. That weekend was saved by the breakout as the shows themselves were extremely weak.
other memories include the first time I heard Bobby sing a Jerry tune(Loose Lucy Furthur fest 1997)
Phil singing Wolfman's Brother with P & F
Very First Easy Answers which was actually good sandwiched in the middle of Music Never Stopped.
My first Dark Star (not really a breakout but special to me)
Breakouts are always fun at the time. It keeps us coming back.

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A run in the spring of 90 Cap Center was the site of three good nights of bust outs.3/14/90 Loose Lucy comes out, she had been gone since something like 74. Place goes nuts.
3/15/90 Brent does a beautiful Easy to Love You for Phil on his B-day and a great Revolution encore.
3/16/90 when you think it is all over Bob busts out BT Wind. Pretty awesome three nights there.
The ole' Cap Center was a tough place to see shows but man did they ever BUST OUT there.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours I am done with mine...

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Played "We Bid You Goodnight" or encore to end the Fillmore East run on April 29th, 1971, possible top 10 of all time shows!played as an encore at the last Cow Palace show, December 31, 1976
Last Winterland show December 31, 1978
Last Alpine Valley run 1989

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First Show 5/13/83 - First Hell In A Bucket (we called it Enjoyin' The Ride)6/85 - First Keep On Growin'
12/30/85 - First Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)
12/15/86 - First Black Muddy River (Song Of My Own) and When Push Comes To Shove
1/87 - First Tons Of Steel And Only Day Tripper
6/87 - First All Along The Watchtower
1/88 - First We Can Run
et.al.
The Sky Was Yellow And The Sun Was Blue
People Stopping Strangers Just To Shake Their Hand.

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I've listened to too many shows that were highly rated by the Dead community because of a "break-out" or a "brought-back"--shows that were nothing special, apart from a historical footnote. Had the tapes of those shows been played for fans without the knowledge that there was a first version or a first time played in XXX shows, then those shows would not have been so highly regarded, in my humble opinion.
I'll be blasphemous here (and endure the rainstorm of "you don't know sh$%!") and mention how mediocre I find the 10/08-09/89 shows. Did they bring back songs that hadn't been played in ages?--you bet. Were those versions of those songs terribly special?--I'm not so certain. I've listened and listened and listened to those two shows, hoping to find the magic that SOOOO many others have raved about and wept over, only to think the same thing each time: if these shows weren't the "brought-back" shows, few would remember them so fondly.
Stripped of the "it's new!" or "it's back!" novelty, the music on a lot of first versions and first-time-in-a-long-time versions isn't always that interesting to my ears.

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The lone Muddy Water from 12/05/71 and Dark Star 12/31/78 is cool.
And music that was heard (clearly) by a very few lucky folks, but finally saw the light of day on "Steppin' Out", 4/07/72 (disc 3).
" Where does the time go? "

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At a Ratdog show a few years ago, the band started rocking out on a song and a girl standing next to me kept asking me something, I couldn't figure out WHAT she was saying. Finally, it dawned on me: "Is this Cream Puff War???" Yes, indeed, it was, young lady.
After the song was over I stood there with a stupid grin on my face, trying to figure out why in the world the Dead dropped the song so quickly from their repetoire.

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Red Rocks I THINK first show in 1978...that venue was sparse then so climbing the steep rock steps you could hear howling for a long time. Would love to have heard the Clash break-out or a Pearl Jam break-out (if).

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My honest opinion, from Morning Dew at the Cap Centre in '79, to Cryptical in '85 and wobbly Saints in '83. Underwhelming, for the most part, though Cryptical got it going here and there. The Dead's unwillingness to rehearse was at times maddening and a cause for big disappointment. The rushed, less than detailed Help On The Way in the early 80s was also a sore point for me. Some things were reborn with dazzling spirit, like Bird Song, Crazy Fingers, Brokedown Palace, Baby Blue, the full blown finale to Deal starting in '80, and especially Bobby's Lovelight. All GREAT. Though I missed them both, the Greek '84 Dark Star and '87 Watchtower takes the cakes for killer surprise, hot playing. For me, the best show I attended with "surprises", modest though perfectly delivered and received, was 6/14/85. That is a great one to check out. I think you might be able to "hear the love" all around that night.

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It's always exciting to hear something new...makes the show instantly special and you are sharing something with the band.
some of these are east coast breakouts
Casey Jones 6.26.84 Merriweather opened with Casey Jones after noodling Finiculi Finicula
Appropriate because the band had played Toronto>Harrisburg>Saratoga>Merriweather
Tough stretch for those on tour.
Hey Jude 9.7 85 Red Rocks
Cryptical and Keep on Growin' 6.30.85 Merriweather
Box Rain Hampton 3.20.86
Sugar Mag begin second set and SSDD closs at Hampton 3.22.87 (Jerry's first east coast post coma show) Also Knockin' on Heaven's door
Day-O 7.6.87
Stir it Up 3.26.88 Hampton...fell flat but effort was appreciated
Blow Away 6.20.88 Alpine
Foolish Heart 6.21.88 Alpine
Take me Home 6.22.88 Alpine
Believe it or Not and Blackbird 6.23.88 Alpine

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It was Ed Perlstein who called us at BAM and told us about the two new songs he heard in socal in February '77. Both were instant classics! "Estimated Prophet" and "Terrapin," of course. What a rush to hear them at Winterland!
I've heard some but by no means all of the Furthur bustouts from this tour. I'm pretty impressed. These guys are putting vast amounts of energy into their work these days, and I think it's great.
Gans/GD Hour blogGD Hour station list

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it's true, I was there for the breakout of Day Job.
Not only that, I knew what it was, because I'd heard Hunter do it the first time I saw Hunter, too. And maybe some Hunter-head will be able to tell me if 10-9-81 was the first performance of Day Job by Hunter himself, in which case I could claim to have witnessed a double breakout of Day Job...
Go ahead, mock me...

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I remember being at the breakout of that song, at Oakland Auditorium on 8/4/79 and thinking that it sounded completely "wrong." What are those chords? Where is the melody? Has Bob Weir gone insane? But I quickly grew to love it once I'd heard it a few times and it had been paired with the more "normal" "Saint of Circumstance." I will say this: Bob has never been afraid to bring an unfinished song to the stage, for better or worse...

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I always liked Day Job too. I grinned from ear to ear when Hunter sang it and I was tickled pink in Veneta to recognize it and pleased with Jer for picking it up.
The fact that I was working at Payless at the time may have helped shape my attitude in the matter, who knows. Perhaps someone somewhere felt my pain.

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We are all fans here and it's fun. We love the boys but there were some stinkers out there and we can certainly laugh about those too!
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours I am done with mine...

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I always enjoyed Don't Need Love and thought it was a grate part of '84.
GET BACK at the SF Civic in '87; while it was fun to be there, it's quite another to try and listen to it.
The Break out of Big Boy Pete from Kaiser in late '85 (also that show, my first Walking the Dog and 2nd She Belongs to Me) Love that 2nd set

Blair, I agree with you about 11/2/84. Still my favorite show ever, and besides Gimme, most of the show were personal breakouts for me. That also might have been the run where we met, up in the balcony. If that's when you were passing out flyers announcing the Golden Road, then it definitely was.
My favorite breakout, however, is when I was invited to the Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra rehearsal for the Black and White Ball in 1989. They were the headliners and had several guests, including Chris Isaak, Paul Kantner, Clarence Clemons... and Weir. Their leader Steve Ashman convinced Bobby to bring back "Black Throated Wind" after decades off, and that rehearsal was the first run through!

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